Sex assault trial opens against James Budd, founder of Boulder's BOHO

By Joe Rubino Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
08/27/2013 09:53:11 PM MDT

James Budd
(
Greg Daily
)

As the sexual assault trial against Boulder Outreach for Homeless Overflow founder James Budd opened Tuesday, prosecutors described a nightmarish encounter for the alleged victim after she let him in her home and provided him with food, a shower and clean clothes.

The defense countered that the events could not have happened the way prosecutors say they did.

Budd, 48, is facing 10 charges, including five counts of sexual assault, two counts of second-degree assault, one count of third-degree assault and one count of second-degree kidnapping, all felonies. He also is facing a misdemeanor count of false imprisonment.

Budd was arrested Nov. 19. Police say he visited the north Boulder mobile home of a female acquaintance the night before and repeatedly physically and sexually assaulted her after she denied his initial advances, keeping her prisoner in her own home overnight until he left.

Deputy District Attorney Jane Walsh said in her opening statement that, up until the night of the alleged assault, Budd and the woman were friendly but never intimate. Walsh said they met in 2010 when the victim volunteered at the Carriage House, where Budd, then a prominent voice in the Boulder homeless community, worked.

He did some handyman work at her mobile home before leaving Boulder for California. The two exchanged emails after Budd left town, but the victim had not heard from him for 18 months before he showed up at her door Nov. 18, Walsh said.

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Prosecutors say that through those emails, Budd learned that the victim had post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental and physical ailments that Walsh said qualifies her as an at-risk adult.

Walsh said the victim allowed Budd -- who was homeless at the time -- into her home, provided him with food, a shower and some clean clothes but refused to have sex with him before the assaults.

Budd told the victim a story that indicated he may have been responsible for the disappearance of a woman who was later found dead in Washington state following a Rainbow Gathering event there, Walsh said.

"During the course of the night, the defendant said to her, 'I have a problem. If I don't rape and kill you, I'm going to have to find someone else to rape and kill,'" Walsh said.

Defense attorney Elyse Maranjian said the prosecution's version of events is not accurate.

"When you analyze all the direct and circumstantial evidence in this case, you will see that it does not add up, that it could never have happened the way (the victim) said it did," Maranjian said.

She cited testimony the prosecution will present about head injuries the victim allegedly suffered at Budd's hands, as well other injuries.

"When you look at the medical evidence in this trial, you'll see that it's not consistent with a claim of those kinds of injuries," Maranjian said. "When you look at some photographs in this case ... what you'll see is there is not anything disturbed in that trailer that would be consistent with that sort of a struggle."

Maranjian said DNA evidence in the case will demonstrate that there was sexual contact between Budd and the woman, but that does not mean a sexual assault occurred.

Budd remains an inmate at the Boulder County Jail on $100,000 bond.

In 2009, Budd, who had a long history of homelessness, founded BOHO as an alternative shelter to the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless, though he has not been affiliated with the organization's work since 2010, according to BOHO board chairwoman Nancy Brinks.